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Style
Explanation and Analysis:
Cheever’s writing style in “The Swimmer” is lyrical and expressive. He uses imagery and figurative language liberally throughout the story to help readers understand the inner workings of the protagonist Neddy, engage them emotionally, and bring them more closely into the story. The following passage—which comes mid-way through the story as a thunderstorm breaks out—captures Cheever’s poetic style:
[T]here was a fine noise of rushing water from the crown of an oak at [Neddy’s] back, as if a spigot there had been turned. Then the noise of fountains came from the crowns of all the tall trees. Why did he love storms, what was the meaning of his excitement when the door sprang open and the rain wind fled rudely up the stairs, why had the simple task of shutting the windows of an old house seemed fitting and urgent, why did the first watery notes of a storm wind have for him the unmistakable sound of good news, cheer, glad tidings?
Cheever opens this passage with imagery and a simile, describing the “fine noise of rushing water” coming down from a tree sounding like “a spigot […] had been turned.” Instead of using the next sentence to clarify that this is the sound of rain, Cheever once again goes in a lyrical direction, describing the sound as “the noise of fountains.”
After poetically orienting readers to the external environment of the scene, Cheever then pivots to having his third-person narrator look into Neddy’s mind. The final sentence in the passage is lengthy and lyrical, with the narrator channeling Neddy’s excited reflections on his love of storms. The way the sentence is broken up into fragments separated by commas captures the urgent and animated way that Neddy is responding to the storm, stylistically capturing how, for Neddy, storms represent for him “good news, cheer, [and] glad tidings.”
Cheever’s expressive language here—and throughout the story—captures Neddy’s emotional inner workings. It also highlights how empty and perfunctory communication between Neddy and his fellow suburbanites are. While the narration is dense with rich descriptions, the dialogue between characters is repetitive and clipped. This is one of the many ways that Cheever conveys the alienation Neddy feels in his life in the suburbs.
Related Themes:
